Strictly's Chris McCausland must win show, says ex-star as she makes BBC plea

Comedian Chris McCausland, 47, is making history as the first blind celebrity on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing - with one former celebrity insisting he should make it until the end

Strictly star Chris McCausland already has a big fan in the form of an ex-contestant - who is willing for him to go all the way.

The comedian, 47, is the first blind celebrity to take part in the BBC show and has been paired with pro dancer Diane Buswell. Chris, who lost his sight at 22 due to retinitis pigmentosa, initially admitted he was "apprehensive" about taking part. However, he impressed the judges at the weekend with a cha cha to The Beatles’ Twist and Shout.

And Ellie Simmonds, who competed on the show two years ago with Nikita Kuzmin, similarly smashed prejudices by becoming the first celebrity with dwarfism to compete on the show. Speaking to the Mirror at the JustGiving Awards last week, she explained that representation is incredibly important and that she's throwing her full support behind Chris.

"I had the most amazing time," she told us. "We talk about representation in the media and we’ve had the Paralympics just gone with Channel 4 and now seeing Chris, who is representing the visually impaired community and people of different disabilities on the TV... I’m rooting for him all the way to see how he’s going to be and what a great partner he’s got - Diane - who’s just so lovely.

"Watching their videos every night when they’re posting them on Instagram and they look like they’re having such a great laugh and such a fun time, it’s wonderful to see. So I’m definitely rooting for them."

It comes after Chris joked about being the 13th celebrity to dance on Saturday in an Instagram video, saying: "Come on, the blind guy – the most that could possibly go wrong so they put us 13th, which is taking the p***, isn’t it? I was stood up there for about an hour 45, I’ve got to stand there pretending to watch other people dancing.

“All I’ve got is Paul Merson commentating for me. Paul’s going, ‘Oh Chris, he’s great, he’s absolutely brilliant. I haven’t even got words to describe how good she is!’ I’m like, ‘Paul, put a sock in it, I’d rather just have the songs!’”

Laughing, Dianne added: "I did feel for you, because you had no idea who was dancing what, every time someone came on, he’s going, ‘Who’s this now?’”

Opening up to his followers about how the show worked, Chris said: "Two or three songs before [your number] you get taken down to a marquee to do your little opening steps. I tried to be positive. Let’s not go out there and put pressure on ourselves to smash it out the park. Let’s go out and have fun.”

Tonight, viewers will watch as the Strictly stars perform their second dance - but will be in danger of getting the chop if they land in the bottom two.

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